Ecommerce is already the preferred method of shopping for millions of Americans, and buying online is rapidly replacing in-person purchases. In fact, 60% of adult Americans are happy to know they don’t have to shop in a crowded store and 71% of shoppers believe they will get a better deal online than in stores. However, despite the increasing traffic online, only 28% of small businesses are selling their products online. And an even smaller percentage of small businesses have a streamlined checkout process and order pages that steadily convert.

We’ve compiled a list of five common mistakes that small businesses and entrepreneurs make when creating their order pages so you can successfully avoid them and perfect your online sales process.

1. Not Offering a Guarantee

One of the easiest ways to mitigate your customers’ biggest fears about buying your product is to address them with a guarantee right on your sales page and order page.

The goal is to promise your customers something that will take away their excuse not to buy right at that moment. Quell their fears by promising to make it right should you fail to deliver on your promise. For example: “If you don’t absolutely love your purchase, we’ll give you a full refund – 100% money back guaranteed.” It will go a long way to instill trust in your business and your product, and trust is essential to close the sale.

2. Not Providing Reviews

Customer product reviews are one of the most impactful elements you can include on an ecommerce product page. Not only do reviews help you ensure your product is legit (positive reviews signify that customers find value in your product), but they act as powerful social validators that have a direct impact on the amount of sales you make. In fact, according to The Ultimate Blueprint to Ecommerce for Entrepreneurs, 90% of customers read reviews, and 70% of online shoppers hunt for reviews before making a purchase decision. Reviews have become an integral part of an online shopper’s experience, so much that it might come across as sketchy if your website doesn’t include any.

The North Face provides a great example of incorporating customer reviews on their product pages. They provide the ratings in two places — right underneath the product in the form of a star rating, and then more in depth reviews as customers visit the individual product page.

3. Not Including Social Proof

Like product reviews, social proof is both highly effective and necessary. Social proof is another way to build your online reputation and convince your customers to purchase. It can take multiple forms, including:

4. Not Being Mobile Responsive

Being mobile responsive is a huge deal. In fact, over 55% of online shopping is done via mobile device. While you might design your ecommerce website with a desktop or laptop in mind, it’s important to optimize it for mobile as well. Luckily, most web page builders, like ONTRApages, make it easy by automatically generating fully responsive mobile pages.

An easy way to check your web page’s mobile responsiveness is to inspect it on your desktop. Here’s how:

1. Right click on your mouse > Inspect

2. On the top of the screen you can choose to view your webpage as it appears on a mobile device.

3. From here, you can also check your mobile navigation, to ensure that it’s easy to use on a mobile device.

5. Not Having a Streamlined Checkout Process

With the litany of web pages and products that are on the internet, consumers are extraordinarily picky — because they can be. If your checkout process is clunky or confusing, chances are, your potential customers are going to bail — and very quickly at that. Simplify the order process as much as possible: Reduce the number of steps customers need to take; minimize the questions or information you’re asking of your visitors, and test your order pages thoroughly before you push them live.

Use these guidelines to ensure your user checkout experience is intuitive and easy:

Use as few form fields as possible: The more you ask of your leads, the more you risk them not converting into customers. Stick to the required form fields like name, email, credit card and shipping address.

Keep it free of clutter: Make sure your order page is void of outbound links or unnecessary copy that will distract them from completing their purchases.

Provide clarity: Consider the questions your customers will potentially have during check-out and answer them.

Offer great customer service: Provide the phone number or email for your customers to contact if they have questions.

Avoid surprises: Make sure you’ve communicated clearly throughout the sales process and that your promises are confirmed on the order page to avoid last-minute abandonment.

About Tatiana Doscher

Campaign Strategist Tatiana Doscher is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara with a dual B.A. in Communication and Global Studies. After working with several small and local businesses, Tatiana joined ONTRAPORT’s Marketing team. She loves running, hiking and enjoying Santa Barbara’s beautiful beaches.